A slowing economy, sky-high debts and a weak banking sector mean Ireland will need support from the European Union when its current bailout ends later this year, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Friday.

In a clear call for Brussels to accede to Irish demands for a credit line next year, the IMF warned that Dublin's recovery would be hampered without cheaper funding for its ailing banks.

The report will deal a blow to the Irish government, which is under pressure domestically to maintain business and consumer confidence in the face of significant economic headwinds. In particular, export growth, which has underpinned the economy's recovery, has fallen in 2013.

BRUSSELS - The EU has started legal action against Russian energy giant Gazprom, the bloc's competition chief said on Thursday (3 October).

Speaking at an event to mark European Competition Day in Lithuanian capital Vilnius, EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia confirmed that the EU executive had started to draw up a formal charge sheet against the firm.

He refused to speculate on the time frame of the case, which comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Russia and the EU over Russian pressure on former Soviet states to eschew EU integration.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority said in a brief statement: "Finma is currently conducting investigations into several Swiss financial institutions in connection with possible manipulation of foreign exchange markets. Finma is co-ordinating closely with authorities in other countries as multiple banks around the world are potentially implicated."

The regulator said it would give no further details on the investigations or the banks potentially involved.

In June the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, also launched an investigation into potential rigging of currency markets, and the role of benchmarks, in some of the most liquid and actively traded markets in the world.